Table 1 Theoretical approaches for working in the intercultural space

1. Power relations

• In any social exchange, power sets the limits and affords the possibilities for action [63].

• Power manifests in communication and language

• The struggle for power in the intercultural domain is not static: it is always shifting, generally asymmetrical and may be obvious or subtle [63].

• Power is strongly emphasised as an instrumental point of analysis in the intercultural exchange [61].

• Power is often driven by the movement of resources, particularly funds.

• Although asymmetrical power in the intercultural domain can be a centrifugal force, it can co-exist with the potential for centripetal action founded on commonalities of the human condition [67].

• Unequal power distribution is an ongoing legacy of colonialism that still deeply influences Indigenous-non Indigenous relations. Accordingly, indigeneity continues to be "defined and self-defining in terms given by the more powerful, colonising and, in many different ways, often racist white population" [61].

• The politics of cultural identities in governance processes is best understood through an intercultural lens, in terms of power and political identity [86].

• Indigenous governance must be understood as having a crucial role as a counter to mainstream governance.

2. Reflexivity

• Reflexivity involves exploration of self-positioning, to understand the lenses that influence our understanding of one another.

• Operating in the intercultural space is affected by history, social influences, family experiences and personality, and thus the reflexive encounter with one´s self can reveal qualities projected on to the `other´ [71].

• Kowal and Paradies argue that many `whites´ working among Indigenous people tend to be liberal-thinking, left-leaning and `anti-racist´ [26]. The complexities of this `political correctness´ can overemphasise structure and downplay agency, creating ambivalence and humility in practitioners about their `helper´ identities, and ultimately result in inaction [26].

• Reflexivity for many Indigenous Australians has recently involved examining the deficit mindset within Indigenous communities that produces a lateral violence that, among many things, targets Indigenous identity, affecting developments in health, society and economy.

• Australia´s history of injustice means that collective defences are complex, and that discussions of guilt are difficult to separate from interactions [73].

• Lateral violence may not necessarily express itself as an overt racism but rather an underlying prejudice that constrains relationships—whether between `white´ and `Indigenous´ governance structures, or service providers and clients, or just between individuals [78].

3. Dialogical theory

• Dialogical theory suggests that each interaction builds on the one before, thereby shaping and reshaping the intercultural encounter [79],[80]

• Interactions constitute continual response to and expansion on previous interactions, that is, interactions form a dialogue

• Dialogical theory suggests understanding and engaging with difference [81].

• Intercultural exchanges are (or may be) socially orientated rather than structural, and as such, multiple dialogues with multiple voices can happen simultaneously. It is important to understand the impact of social influences on individual and organisational exchanges [82].

4. Borders

• Constructing boundaries is an innate human process, helping us to organise our world [71].

• Border work must simultaneously explore the necessary construction of certain boundaries, as well as their permeability, without those boundaries being stereotyped as cultural `attributes´. That is, border work means constructing fluid boundaries across cultures, rather than solid borders that divide us [53],[85].

• Distinctions and differences are essential to the human condition; "it is how we deal with these differences that make[s] boundaries menacing and oppressive or liberating and empowering" [71].

• Intercultural relations are shaped as much by what the margins define as by the liminal points of translation and transformation.

• Understanding borders is an instrumental process for work in the collaborative intercultural zone, and `mapping´ these frontiers is an important part of understanding what is going on [53].

5. Strangeness

• Refers to both the `experience of strangeness´, and the `position of stranger´ (an individual or group different to the majority) [71].

• The ambivalent position of the stranger can cause confusion and anxiety in the majority world, as they make the porous nature of social boundaries explicit [71].

• Understanding is built within the intermediate space between familiarity and strangeness [83].

• Recognising that there are alternative (strange) knowledges is also a critical pedagogical decolonising process [84].

• The stranger can question the `taken for granted´ world of the host and this uncertainty creates an opportunity for a critical understanding of the host´s world. In this sense, Indigenous actors partnering with mainstream bodies, by their position as minority and strangers in a white-dominated society, offer potential to critically examine partnerships.

6. The Intercultural Space

• Recognises the significance of the relational and situational context of communication [76],[101]

• Recognises that apprehension and ethnocentrism can negatively affect the ability to communicate effectively and to reduce uncertainty [102]

• Examines the inter-relationships between uncertainty, anxiety, mindfulness, and communication effectiveness [103]

• Describes the complexity of key positions of activity in the intercultural field (from the `silent majority´ and `spectators´ through to leaders and external stakeholder—each with their own `domain´ of cultural activity), not only interculturally but cross-sectorally and interprofessionally [104].

• Individual psychological and emotional responses to relations in an intercultural exchange can be a centrifugal force or can serve productively to establish necessary boundaries.